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MBA DFB Cohort-III

Aug-2021
Business Communication
Quiz-I Duration: 60 Minutes
Max. Marks: 30 Weightage: 20%
• Answer all the questions.
• Record your answers in a separate word document, save the documents with your roll
numbers only.
• Clearly mention the question number in your answer sheet.
• Convert the word document into PDF and upload the same on UMS.
• Late submissions won’t be considered for evaluation.
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Q.1 Identify whether the following text is an argument or non-argument. (If it is a non-argument)
clearly indicate what the author is presenting (description / summary / explanation /
disagreement). Justify your answer.

a. People are less politically aware now than they have been at any time in the past. For
hundreds of years, people took great personal risks to fight for causes that would benefit
other people more than themselves. This rarely happens today. As late as the 1980s,
there were frequent rallies with people in one country demonstrating to show solidarity
with people elsewhere. Now rallies are more likely to be for personal gains such as
better salaries or student grants rather than for political issues of wider application.
Even low-risk activities such as voting in elections attract low turnouts. (2+3=5 marks)

b. Both of the toy mice were the same size and shape, so the dog was confused. Although
one mouse was red and one was blue, Misty was unable to tell which mouse was his
toy simply by looking. Like other dogs, he needed to sniff them both, using his sense
of smell to tell them apart, because he couldn’t discriminate between different colors.
(2+3=5 marks)

c. Recently, Ice Age specialists were excited to find evidence of some cultural links
between Ice Age people across Europe. On a return visit to Cress well Crags in England,
they found images of horses, bison, and red deer similar to those already found in
Germany. There is much controversy about other figures found on cave walls, which
some experts believe to be images of dancing women, whereas others remain
unconvinced. (2+3=5 marks)

d. The article outlined the difference between individual yawns and infectious yawn ing.
It referred particularly to research by Professor Platek which suggests that only humans
and great apes yawn sympathetically. The article went on to say that people who yawn
more easily in response to other people’s yawns are also likely to be good at inferring
other people’s states of mind. Finally, the article indicates some social benefits of
yawning, suggesting that contagious yawning might have helped groups to synchronize
their behavior. (2+3=5 marks)

MBA-DFB BC Quiz-I
 2

Q.2 Identify the conclusion and propositions (premise) in the following text. (2+3=5
marks)

It is important that pregnant women and those with poor immune systems become
aware of the potential risks posed by cats. Many of us keep cats as house pets without
realising the dangers they may be harbouring. Cats are host to infectious toxoplasma
gondii, protozoa that cause disease, toxoplasmosis, in mammals such as humans. The
protozoa are crescent-shaped and common in nature, but in the infectious stage rely on
cats as host bodies. Adult humans rarely show signs of significant disease if they
become infected. However, if pregnant women become infected, the foetus can become
infected by parasites and suffer serious congenital damage. In the worst cases, infants
may lose their eye-sight and acquire motor deficits. In people with poor immune system
or AIDS, toxoplasmosis can cause seizures and death. The symptoms of the disease are
not evident in cats so there is no way of knowing if a particular cat is a risk.

Q.3 Identify author’s position in the following texts

(a) It was initially believed that young children could not understand other people’s
points of view or undertake tasks such as counting and measuring until they were
at least seven years of age. However, it seems the problem does not lie in children’s
capacity to do these things so much as in their understanding of what is being asked
and why. If there is no obvious purpose, or they do not understand the language
used, children find tasks difficult. Even young children can perform tasks formerly
considered too advanced for them, as long as these are set up in ways that make
sense to them. Problems that involve teddies or drinks, for example, may be
meaningful to very young child, whereas tasks with counters and beakers are not.
(2.5 marks)
(b) The nature and origin of disease was unclear until relatively recently. At the end of
the nineteenth century, Koch, a Prussian scientist, introduced a set of procedures
now known as Koch’s postulates. He experimented with bacterial colonies
cultivated in the laboratory, made from the blood of dying cattle. When these
cultures were injected into healthy live cattle, these also caught the same disease.
At the time, these findings were astonishing. Koch had been able to provide proof
to support the theory that disease was spread by germs. He contributed one of the
most important methodological advances in the history of medicine. (2.5 marks)

MBA-DFB BC Quiz-I